05 May 2011

Well I have to admit I have yet to be able to process my Greater Sage-Grouse shots from Colorado (and so am posting some "emergency" ones here as a taster of more to come), possibly one of the greatest surprises in birding I have had to date. I went in completely unprepared for what would unfold in front of our eyes. This was simply put right up there with one of the greatest avian spectacles I have ever seen (and yes I include the birds-of-paradise in this assessment). I urge any birder to go and experience these birds, for lovers of strange bird behavior this was up there with the best of them. The males strutted, fanned their pointed tail feathers out, made bizarre plopping sounds, and thrust out strange pink "breasts" that made for a completely unique and freakishly comical scene. We laughed at them, but reveled in the whole thing, which was a genuine spectacle.

MY NATURE PHOTOS

Follow by Email

LEOPARD

Greater Praire-Chicken

WHO is Sam Woods?

A pair of tits (Blue and Great) in a London park 30 years back changed my life; I became a birder, and an obsessive birder by the following weekend. Works like Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book and Richard Millington's A Twitcher's Diary helped in no small part to nurture this in my formative years.
30 years on I am still an avid birder but have also learnt to appreciate other sectors of the natural world, especially frogs and primates in particular, through the undoubted influence of David Attenborough The Great and others. I now work as a full-time professional tour leader for Tropical Birding Tours, and now reside in the Andes of Ecuador. I love my job, sharing birds with people provides every bit of a buzz as a lifebird, which, of course, still creates a wave of excitement every time. I have been lucky enough to see well over 6550 bird species on my travels, which does not make me any more talented than anyone else, just one that is always greedy and impatient for more, which has taken me to all seven continents, and always yearning for that ONE...MORE...B-I-R-D!
I use Swarovski binoculars & scope, & shoot with Canon 7D and Canon 400m f5.6L lens.